Protection Charm
by Haten
Summary: When the spell of a charming girl is cast, the only protection you can muster is a grain of raw and unadultered cynism. [One-shot]


A/N

Take this little piece with a grain of salt. I love Teruhashi as a character, but I feel like the Oregairu cast... Well, see for yourself.

* * *

Being a perfect beautiful girl also means to be kind and offer your help to better the community. The joined sports festival was an unexpected but not unwelcome turn of events as she would simply expand her circle of influence… No, she'd grace more people with her perfectly beautiful presence.

The students gathered from both high schools were already giving her their complete and undivided attention. Welcome, yes. But they weren't advancing at all.

"Please, guys. We have to do our job properly or we'll let everyone down~" It was almost like a spell, everyone came to an immediate halt and began taking their job seriously. Sometimes Teruhashi Kokomi wondered if perhaps her beauty could count as a supernatural phenomenon to have such an impact in others, though she'd never acknowledge it out loud.

"Thank you, Teruhashi-san." Well, it couldn't actually be some supernatural power because there seems to be people immune to her charms. To Kokomi, Yukinoshita Yukino wasn't half bad in the beauty department. However this isn't important, what matters is that she seemed immune to her charm and by proxy the people that surrounded her like some sort of anti ESP field.

The Service Club consisted of only three people. A bubbly girl by the name of Yuigahama Yui, the president Yukinoshita herself and a guy who Teruhashi had yet to see. These people plus the most popular clique in the school surrounded Yukinoshita like fireflies and were swayed away from Kokomi's perfect charm.

At first she didn't want to believe it. No, all her life experiences had shown time and again that there was no one immune to her beauty. Not even god could resist her, of that she was pretty sure.

These thoughts bothered her. While she delegated her responsibilities to the eager to please her group of boys around her she pondered about it. About the possibility, the very _idea_ was ridiculous.

"Hey, ummm…" A boy approached her, several papers at hand and she flinched at his sudden appearance.

"Hikigaya-kun, please refrain from pushing your work onto Teruhashi-san's group. Maybe you should learn from them and get to work. Then, you'd be closer to become an useful member of society." Yukinoshita chimed in with crossed arms. Kokomi's beautiful girl front almost cracked at the other girl denying her the attention when something unexpected happened. The boy broke his gaze off Kokomi and stared dead into Yukinoshita.

"What? Since the PK guys are so effective I'm simply doing us a favor and giving them more paperwork to complete, that way we can focus on other things and won't have to bother with things that these guys clearly have under control." The boy rolled his eyes in exasperation "You say I'm trying to slack? Say that to Isshiki, I'm simply giving away work that doesn't correspond me to do what I'm actually meant to do."

Wait, did he just choose to stop looking at Kokomi to say _that_?

"The fact that you can say that with a straight face shouldn't surprise me by this point." Yukinoshita sighed "You can't arbitrarily give more work to someone else. If they're done then they fulfilled their part, in other words they're not forced to do anything else and much less _your_ work. You're making us a disservice by presenting the Service Club as a group that would rather slack off than fulfill the duties we were asked to do to begin with, Hikigaya-kun."

Her boys would normally freak out. This boy was trying to give Kokomi more work. They'd have tried to maul him, probably, but not in this case. The two Sobu students continued to argue with one another, when one of her boys actually tried to help Yukinoshita she shot him down with such venom he was left completely useless… Astonished.

"…And let's not say your eyes would have scared Teruhashi-san to the bones." Yukinoshita said smugly.

"Oi, don't just say that after saying not to!" The boy angrily retorted.

"My apologies, Teruhashi-san. I can't guarantee this ape-like individual won't try something on you."

"I won't!"

"But I'll take full responsibility if something does happen." Yukinoshita finished and eyed the boy who was obviously cooking a biting retort. Kokomi was feeling dizzy from all the back and forth and didn't know what to say nor her guys did.

Useless, useless boys!

"I-It's fine! I don't think…" No! What was his name again?! "I don't think he'd do anything to me!" Because she's so beautiful the boys around her would torch him if he tried, of course. He _did_ look like a criminal in potency, his eyes were small and hollow. She was now sure he was the final member of the Service Club, because not even her beauty seemed to fill the void in those tiny creepy eyes.

His type are the easiest to sway to boot. As expected of Yukinoshita, her anti-beauty powers are no joke.

Well, she should feel glad someone like him wouldn't begin randomly sending letters full of strange stuff or stalking her while she went home but…

Why isn't he heads over heels for her?! Kokomi is a perfectly beautiful girl, dammit! He should be the first to want to do his best for her smile!

"See? Not everyone shares your jaded views, Yukinoshita." Now _he_ was being smug, and somehow it creeped Kokomi all the same.

"Nonsense. She's obviously being polite. Don't worry, Teruhashi-san. Even if it hurts, as members of society it's our duty to show Hikigaya-kun the truth about his rotten self." Again, Yukinoshita used Kokomi to further insult the guy… What is going on?!

"Yukinoshita-san." And now Hayama chimed in! "We need your help in here…"

"Hikki!" Yuigahama appeared from behind Hayama and took the boy's arm between hers "Come here, Iroha-chan needs your help!"

Both Hayama and Yuigahama turned to Teruhashi as they took their respective schoolmates away from her. Both of them had the same awkward smile and both of them were sending the same silent message.

_Sorry you had to see that._

For anyone else, that would have only been a couple of students fighting over some school project. But for Kokomi that was much more. That had been a boy actively ignoring her and insulting a girl who was in turn insulting him and using Kokomi as nothing more than a tool to further grind him to the dirt.

These people are mental, she finally decided. She justified it and released a sigh.

"I feel sick…" She whispered and suddenly there were dozens of boys trying to give her different solutions in a frenzy. She had to quickly dismiss them, and she they hadn't made too much trouble in their ways to getting medicine, drinks and food for her "Sorry…" She quietly told the Sobu students reunited, who were all too eager to forgive her and equally so to ask if everything was right… Everyone but the Service Club who were still working, the school president who was busy taking Hayama Hayato's attention and Yukinoshita's tentative club mate (are they really in the same club? If they were forced to interact every day Kokomi had no doubt the chances of one being murdered were pretty high) who was staring at her through the corner of his eyes.

His side-glance was hard, and Kokomi suddenly felt unsure about her safety. She quickly schooled her features, reacting to a disgusting guy wasn't something a perfect beautiful girl would do.

"Heh." Her heart dropped when the guy chuckled. Apparently self-satisfied he turned his attention to his (tentative) club mates and sat down to keep doing his work.

He had… No, impossible. No one would… But how could…? No, that guy didn't just _mock_ Kokomi! Being distracted from her beauty? Fine, she can give Yukinoshita that much. But having any negative reaction to her?! Impossible! No, rather that's just not allowed! No one should be able to see Kokomi as anything but a perfect beautiful girl!

She wanted to throw a tantrum, but couldn't around so many people. She could only sit thigh and wait as time went on.

And on.

And on.

And on…

This isn't right. Why is she waiting? Why should she be the one…?

"Teruhashi-senpai! You got a moment?" Isshiki Iroha interrupted her thoughts and beamed her with a big smile.

Okay, Kokomi. Keep your cool, everyone loves you. It just so happens some people don't know it yet!

"Sure, Isshiki-chan. What's wrong?" The younger student approached further and began rambling about the papers she had at hand. She was basically asking the same as that Hikigaya guy had, if she couldn't do more work for them "Ummm…"

"Something wrong?" Isshiki blinked without flinching. Kokomi's boys turned to see what was troubling her "Perhaps you can't? Oh, I see you're too busy. I'll just ask Senpai then." Somehow Kokomi felt played, had that girl just…?

"Wait." Kokomi asked nicely and Isshiki flinched.

"Hmm? What? I kind of need to get this done, y'know?" Kokomi flinched again. What's the deal with the people of Sobu and treating her like they were equals?

"Oi, Isshiki. Quit pestering people and get your paperwork done." Ah! Him again!

"But I don't wanna…!" The younger girl pouted and the guy with the dead eyes looked away instantly "You do it for me, Senpai!" Isshiki beamed as if it was the best idea ever.

"Of course not." He hit karate bumped her gently as he retorted "Go, or Yukinoshita'll be mad at me for letting you slack."

"Fiiiiiiiine." Isshiki showed her tongue and ran off to her seat. The Hikigaya guy turned to follow suit… Without so much as a second glance to Kokomi!

"Huh, Hikigaya-kun!" Without thinking she reached out to his sleeve. He visibly flinched and yanked his arm away from Kokomi's reach.

"W-What is it?" Oh? So her charms _does_ reach him. His blush told her as much.

But what to say? Well, a perfect beautiful girl is also thoroughly nice!

"Umm, I know she wasn't saying nice things but… You can't talk like that to Yukinoshita-san! Girls don't like when someone has a harsh mouth like that." Perfectly pulling off the shy approach Kokomi mentally fist bumped herself when Hikigaya flinched again from her words.

"U-Uh…" Bonus points for speechlessness! Yes, Kokomi. Show Yukinoshita who's in charge! "No, actually… It's not like that. I was just…"

"No matter the reason, you just can't!" Kokomi insisted, riding the momentum like a tidal wave "Imagine how you'd feel if someone talked to you like that!"

Hikigaya's eyes focused again.

"There's no need." He made a sound though Kokomi wasn't sure if it was a chuckle, a jeer or something of the like. It sounded… Wrong "Actually, she was holding back… Yukinoshita's got a pretty sharp tongue." Apparently, this was funny to him because he was smiling, albeit sadly "But I don't think you'd understand, right?"

Again, that condescending attitude. Kokomi had a hard time getting back her bearing. She'd have to switch mental gears.

"Then you should report to a teacher or something. The things I said apply to her too. She shouldn't just mouth off like…"

"There'd be no point." What?! He interrupted her? He wasn't enjoying the sound of her beautiful voice?! "I doubt the teachers would pay it any mind… Not like you can understand, Teruhashi-san."

"W-What do you mean?" Kokomi had a harder time keeping her face straight. Somewhere along the way this conversation had been taken astray and she didn't know how to salvage it.

"Well…" To his credit he looked uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going too. He began the sentence several times only to cut himself short. Kokomi tried to recover her bearings "Well, just look at yourself."

"What about my looks?" Reflexively she played the 'oblivious to my own beauty card'. This was so practiced she could do it in her sleep! A perfect beautiful girl should never boast about her beauty.

Hikigaya narrowed his eyes.

"You know what I'm talking about." Kokomi flinched. The traces of shyness were all but gone from his features "Stop with that front of yours. No one's buying it." What? Nonsense! The people around her…! "The guys over there? They know, they just don't care. The teachers? Well, so long as you stay docile I doubt they'd do something about you. If anything, you keep those idiots in check so there's that." Hikigaya chuckled darkly, the guys from PK Academy giving him the evil eye.

As if he was enjoying the negative effect he was having on her.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about, Hikigaya-kun. I… I just wanted to help." Kokomi quickly took the stare contest between her boys and Hikigaya to take the initiative back "I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. Really, I'm sorry. I just wanted to be nice to you." With that she allowed a tear to run down the corner of her eye. It was bizarre she had been cornered like that, but jealousy from other girls had allowed her to create weapons for situations like this.

Her boys were about to take her cue but Yukinoshita's voice interrupted, popping the bubble they were all in "Hikigaya-kun. If you don't quit stalking Teruhashi-san I'll have to call Hiratsuka-sensei to correct you."

Hikigaya stiffened.

"I'll be good." He raised his hands as if surrendering.

"Good, now to your seat. You're not done yet." Yukinoshita saw him off before sighing.

She didn't like it, but Yukinoshita did save her from that guy.

"Thank you Yukinoshita-sa…"

"And you, Teruhashi-san." Her voice was just as cold, if not colder than before. Kokomi froze in place as if under a spell "Since the beginning of the meeting we'd been trying to get everyone to cooperate. The Service Club is here under the idea that both Sobu High and PK Academy are cooperating. Yet, since we've come here you have constantly derailed everyone's attention from the subject time and again." Kokomi wanted to protest but Yukinoshita didn't relent "If you don't fix this attitude of yours we'll have to call the festival off. Hikigaya-kun and myself have reviewed this meeting and came to this conclusion. Isshiki-san agrees aswell."

"…"

"You understand?" Kokomi shrunk under Yukinoshita's harsh gaze. Not even her parents had glared like that to her.

"Yes." She replied with the smallest voice she could muster.

"Good." And with that Yukinoshita turned and joined her group.

Damn that Yukinoshita and her anti-beauty powers! Kokomi would make her _pay_ for making her feel like less than the perfect beautiful girl she is!


End file.
